The stock markets pared early gains with the Sensex falling 20 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 18,288.74, while the Nifty traded 13 points, or 0.24 per cent, lower at 5,560.50 in early trade.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries fell more than 1 per cent on the NSE while Infosys gained over 1 per cent.

Top gainers:

Bharti Airtel was the biggest gainer on the Nifty. Shares of the telecom major traded over 2 per cent higher after Credit Suisse upgraded the company to ‘outperform’ from ‘underweight’, and increased the target price to Rs. 335 from Rs. 225. The risk reward for the Bharti stock seems favourable now, the global brokerage said. Last week, Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to ‘buy’ on the back of the 2G auction outcome.

Other gainers on the index were JP Associates (1.37 per cent), Maruti Suzuki (1.94 per cent) and Tata Steel (0.77 per cent).

The market also cheered reports that debt-laden Kingfisher Airlines had begun salary payments to its employees for the month of May, and shares of the airline rose 2.6 per cent on the NSE.

Top losers:

FMCG major Hindustan Unilever (1 per cent) and cement maker Ambuja Cements (1.45 per cent) were the biggest losers on the Nifty. Ultratech and L&T too traded 0.96 per cent and 0.8 per cent, lower, respectively.

L&T last week said it had agreed to sell its medical equipment business in Mysore to Skanray Healthcare.

Asian markets

Asian stock markets rose Monday, registering optimism after negotiations late last week between President Barack Obama and leaders of Congress raised hopes the US would avoid the 'fiscal cliff' before the end-of-the-year deadline. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6 per cent, recovering from Friday's nine-week low.